East Windsor Arsonist Found Not Guilty By Reason Of Mental Illness

HARTFORD — A judge on Tuesday found that a 75-year-old man set a fire at his East Windsor nursing home two years ago, but also that John H. Turner was not guilty by reason of mental disease.

Judge Joan K. Alexander's finding followed an hour-long trial during which she heard from witnesses, called by prosecutor Donna Mambrino, who linked the setting of the fire at Kettle Brook Care Center on May 8, 2012 to Turner.

Alexander also heard from mental health professionals and Turner's conservator, called by public defender John Stawicki, who described Turner's long history of mental illness and more recent dementia.

At least 118 people lived at Kettle Brook at the time of the fire and many of the people in Turner's locked dementia ward required significant assistance to escape the smoke that consumed the ward, Mambrino told the judge.

East Windsor police Cpl. Byron Smith told the judge that after he and other emergency workers in East Windsor responded to the fire at Kettle Brook, Turner told him he had set the fire.

Turner said he set a box of clothing on fire in his room, then went and sat near the nurse's station until the fire alarm went off, Smith said. Smith quoted Turner as saying that he hated living at Kettle Brook and that he would set another fire "if given the opportunity."

Robert C. Burke, a licensed clinical social worker and vice president of the company that runs Kettle Brook, testified that Turner told him, "I started that fire." Turner called Burke aside after the fire was out to talk to him about what he had done, Burke testified.

"He said that he was not happy living there and he thought that would help him get somewhere else," Burke testified.

Turner also said he felt bad about setting the fire, but said he would do it again, Burke said.

Dr. Peter Morgan, a psychiatrist hired by the defense to evaluate Turner, testified that Turner has paranoid schizophrenia and dementia and that his mental illness dates back to the early 1970s.

Turner has taken antipsychotic medications for many years, Morgan testified, but more recently began to deteriorate and began to suffer command auditory hallucinations to set the fire.

Because of Turner's mental illness, Morgan testified, he believed Turner was not aware that what he was doing was wrong.

After finding Turner not guilty by reason of mental illness, Alexander ordered that he undergo an evaluation by state psychiatrists for eventual commitment. The evaluation is due by Nov. 19. Turner will be held at the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital, Alexander said.

In the early 1970s, Turner was convicted in New Jersey of arson and attempted murder for dousing his father's home with gasoline and setting it on fire. He served three years in prison.